Christopher S. Claremont () is an American comic book writer and novelist. Claremont worked for 16 years on Uncanny X-Men from 1975 to 1991, longer than that of any other writer, during which he is credited with developing strong female characters as well as introducing complex literary themes into superhero narratives, turning the once underachieving comic into one of Marvel's most popular series. During his tenure, X-Men was the best-selling comic book in the world.
During his tenure at Marvel, Claremont co-created dozens of X-Men characters. He wrote the stories "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past", on which he collaborated with John Byrne. He developed the character of Wolverine. X-Men #1, the 1991 spinoff series premiere that Claremont co-wrote with Jim Lee, is the bestselling comic book of all time, according to Guinness World Records. In 2015, Claremont and Byrne were entered into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame.
Early life
Claremont was born in London, England. His father was an internist and his mother was a pilot and caterer. His family moved to the United States when he was three years old, and he was raised primarily on Long Island. Alienated by the sports-oriented suburbs, and writing novels with the hope of becoming a director. His first professional sale was a prose story. Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time, Len Wein, who recognized Claremont's enthusiasm for the new X-Men that Wein and Dave Cockrum had created in 1975, hired Claremont, a relatively young writer, to take over the series as of issue #94 (May 1975), reasoning that doing so would not draw opposition from other writers, given the book's poor standing. Claremont approached the job as a method actor, developing the characters by examining their motives, desires and individual personalities. This approach drew immediate positive reaction. According to former Marvel editor-in-chief Bob Harras, "He lived it and breathed it. He would write whole paragraphs about what people were wearing. He really got into these people's thoughts, hopes, dreams." Claremont's take on the series has been likened to writing "the Great American Novel about complex characters who just happened to fly", incorporating surprise character developments and emotional nuances amid the operatic battles that otherwise typified American superhero comics. Claremont acquired a reputation for taking a long time to resolve plot threads, and longtime X-Men editor Louise Simonson recounted that whenever she was at a loss for story ideas, "All I'd have to do was go through all of the plot threads that he had left for the last year or two."
Claremont introduced new supporting characters to the X-Men series including Moira MacTaggert in issue #96 and Lilandra Neramani in #97. Jean Grey a.k.a. Marvel Girl, one of Marvel's first female heroes, underwent a dramatic transformation into the extremely powerful Phoenix in issue #101. Issue #107 (Oct. 1977) saw the introduction of the Starjammers as well as the departure of artist Dave Cockrum. Claremont began his collaboration with artist John Byrne in the following issue.
During his 17 years as X-Men writer, Claremont wrote or co-wrote many classic X-Men stories, such as "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past". Comics writers and historians Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson observed that "'The Dark Phoenix Saga' is to Claremont and Byrne what the 'Galactus Trilogy' is to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It is a landmark in Marvel history, showcasing its creators' work at the height of their abilities." Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "The controversial story created a sensation and The X-Men became the comic book to watch." In 2010, Comics Bulletin ranked Claremont and Byrne's run on The X-Men second on its list of the "Top 10 1970s Marvels". Claremont and artist Frank Miller crafted a Wolverine limited series in 1982. With artist Walt Simonson, Claremont produced The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans in 1982, an intercompany crossover between the top-selling Marvel and DC titles. The New Mutants were introduced by Claremont and Bob McLeod in Marvel Graphic Novel #4 (Dec. 1982) and received their own ongoing series soon after. The second X-Men film was loosely based on his 1982 X-Men graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills.
Besides his work on X-Men and its spinoffs, Claremont wrote Marvel Team-Up, Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel during this time. He and artist John Bolton created the Marada the She-Wolf character in 1981. Claremont's stories for Marvel Team-Up included the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live appearing in issue #74 (Oct. 1978) and the introduction of Karma, a character who later joined the New Mutants, in #100 (Dec. 1980). Claremont helped launch the Marvel Fanfare title in March 1982.
Claremont co-created numerous other important female X-Men characters, including Rogue, Betsy Braddock, Mariko Yashida, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Phoenix, Mystique, Lady Mastermind, Emma Frost, Siryn, Rachel Summers, and Jubilee. Forge, and Wolverine, In 1991, Marvel launched a second X-Men title simply called X-Men with Claremont and penciler Jim Lee as co-writers. X-Men #1 is still the bestselling comic book of all time, with sales of over 8.1 million copies (and nearly $7 million), according to Guinness World Records, which presented honors to Claremont at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. The sales figures were generated in part by publishing the issue with four different variant covers which showed different characters from the book (and later a fifth gatefold cover that combined all four), large numbers of which were purchased by retailers, who anticipated fans and speculators who would buy multiple copies in order to acquire a complete collection of the covers. Claremont left the series after the first three-issue story arc, due to clashes with editor Bob Harras. In 1992 he wrote the graphic novel Star Trek: Debt of Honor, which was illustrated by Adam Hughes. Stan Lee interviewed Claremont for episode 7 of the 1991–92 documentary series The Comic Book Greats.
In 1993, he began writing the 12-issue miniseries Aliens/Predator: Deadliest of the Species for Dark Horse Comics, which was completed in 1995. That year saw a decline in his comics output, however, as he turned his focus to writing novels, citing frustration with how the comics industry had become dominated by artists and editors.
In 1995, Claremont began writing his creator-owned series, Sovereign Seven, which was published by DC Comics, running for 36 issues until 1998.
In 1998, Claremont returned to Marvel as editorial director and the regular writer of Fantastic Four, where he created Valeria Richards. The book was pencilled by artist Salvador Larrocca and inked by Art Thibert for the entirety of his duration on the series. Claremont's run on Fantastic Four would last for 29 issues and 2 annuals, making it his longest tenure on a title outside of the X-Men. Despite outselling books such as Amazing Spider-Man and Batman, Claremont was fired by editor Bobbie Chase in early 2000, a decision that he was angered by due to his desire to remain on the title for as long as his original X-Men run. Claremont also wrote The Fantastic 4th Voyage of Sinbad in 2001, a one shot starring the Fantastic Four on an adventure with Sinbad the Sailor. The comic was pencilled Pascual Ferry.
In 2000, as part of the company's "Revolution" event, he wrote Uncanny X-Men and X-Men until he moved to X-Treme X-Men, again working with penciller Salvador Larroca. He returned to Uncanny X-Men again for a two-year run starting in 2004, while teaming up with his former Excalibur collaborator and artist, Alan Davis.
In 2004, Claremont was co-writer on JLA issues #94–99, the "Tenth Circle" story arc for DC Comics, which reunited him with his former Uncanny X-Men artist John Byrne, with Jerry Ordway as inker.
In 2007, Claremont returned to New Excalibur, writing a story arc in which the character Nocturne has a stroke. He has completed his first arc on Exiles, adding Betsy Braddock to the team.
In 2008 Claremont wrote the miniseries GeNEXT, followed by its 2009 sequel, GeNext: United. He was the writer of an X-Men Forever series which was set in an alternate universe, and focuses on the present day lives of the X-Men in a reality where Magneto never returned following the destruction of Asteroid M in X-Men #3 (December 1991). In 2010, Claremont collaborated with Italian comics artist Milo Manara on X-Women.
As of 2014 Claremont was under an exclusive contract for Marvel. In April of that year, Marvel launched a Nightcrawler series with Claremont as writer, which he finished in March 2015. He re-united with his former New Mutants artist Bill Sienkiewicz for the oneshot New Mutants: War Children in 2019.
Writing style
thumb|Claremont being interviewed on breaking into the comics industry at the 2011 New York Comic Con
According to writer/editor Paul Levitz, Claremont's complex story structures "played a pivotal role in assembling the audience that enabled American comics to move to more mature and sophisticated storytelling, and the graphic novel."
In a 2009 Slate article, Grady Hendrix called Claremont the "soapiest writer in comic books.... The classic Claremont pose is either a character, head hung in shame with two enormous rivers of tears running down the cheeks as he or she delivers a self-loathing monologue, or a character with head thrown back and mouth open in a shout of rage, shaking tiny fists at heaven and vowing that the whole world will soon learn about his or her feelings." Hendrix goes on to state "The genius of Chris Claremont was that he made mutants a generic stand-in for all minorities". "I'm an immigrant," said Claremont in 2014, describing his affinity with outsiders. After arriving in the United States from England, he was beaten up "because I looked like a geek." His emphasis on the theme of prejudice resonated with readers as the X-Men series rose in popularity. Following the dissolution of that marriage, he married Beth Fleisher, Claremont and Fleisher have twin sons.
Awards
- 1980 Inkpot Award
- 1992 Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Graphic Novel or Album for Star Trek: Debt of Honor
- 1979 Eagle Award for Best Comicbook Writer (US)
- 1979 Eagle Award for Favourite Single Story – X-Men #111 – "Mindgames" with John Byrne
- 1980 Eagle Award for Favourite Continued Comic Story – X-Men #125–128 with John Byrne
- 1986 Eagle Award for Favourite Group or Team (US) – X-Men
- Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters from Bard College